100 THE LITTLE ANGELS. 



it was lost in the strata of air. Thej expected, as at 

 Teneriffe, to see the horizon level with the eye, but in 

 stead of distinguishing a marked limit between the two 

 elements, the distant strata of water seemed to be trans- 

 formed into vapour, and mingled with the aerial ocean. 

 The western dome of the Saddle concealed from them 

 the view of the town of Caracas; but they distin- 

 guished the nearest houses, the villages of Chacao and 

 Petare, the coffee plantations, and the course of the Kio 

 Guayra, a slender streak of water reflecting a silvery 

 light. 



While they were examining with their glasses that 

 part of the sea, the horizon of which was clearly defined, 

 and the chain of the mountains of Ocumare, behind 

 which began the unknown world of the Orinoco and the 

 Amazon, a thick fog from the plains rose to the elevated 

 regions, first filling the bottom of the valley of Caracas. 

 The vapours, illumined from above, presented a uniform 

 tint of a milky white. The valley seemed overspread 

 with water, and looked like an arm of the sea, of which 

 the adjacent mountains formed the steep shore. 



Seated on the rock, Humboldt was determining the 

 dip of the needle, when he found his hands covered with 

 a species of hairy bee, a little smaller than the honey-bee 

 of the north of Euroj^e. These insects make their nests 

 in the ground. The people, in these regions, call them 

 little angels, because they seldom sting. 



The fog became so dense that it would have been im- 

 prudent to remain any longer, so they descended. It 

 was now half-past four in the afternoon. Satisfied with 

 the success of their journey, they forgot that there might 

 be danger in descending in the dark, steep declivities 



